Sure enough, when Lucario closed in on Tyranitar in a streak of white light, his swift and fierce attacks fell upon Tyranitar like a torrential downpour...
The next second, Tyranitar let out a pained cry, and then its massive hill-like body toppled straight backward.
As Tyranitar lost its ability to battle, the sandstorm covering the field finally dissipated. Along with it, the dark space surrounding them began to change. In the blink of an eye, Caleb found himself back inside the tavern.
*Ding!*
[Congratulations on successfully passing Tyranitar's trial. You have successfully recruited the General Tyranitar!]
The Tyranitar standing opposite him let out a deep, powerful roar and looked over with an intense gaze.
Caleb immediately understood its meaning. Through the recent battle, he had gained Tyranitar's recognition. It was willing to become his General.
Without wasting time, Caleb quickly accessed the panel, assigned a squad of soldiers to Tyranitar's team, and dispatched them to a wild resource point to gather resources.
Tyranitar left without any complaint. Caleb stood at the entrance of his territory, watching it depart.
Like Dragonite and the others, as a General-class Pokémon, Tyranitar possessed its own troop-type bonuses.
Thinking of this, Caleb opened the general panel. Sure enough, he found Tyranitar's detailed attributes there:
[Tyranitar (General): Due to its Ability, when Tyranitar enters the field, a Sandstorm Domain automatically appears centered on itself. Rock-type Pokémon within this domain gain a 25% speed increase, a 25% power increase for Ground-type moves, and obtain the 'Concealment' effect...]
- Concealment: Utilizes the sandstorm to interfere with the enemy's line of sight. If the enemy is beyond five meters, the accuracy of their moves is significantly reduced...
As his eyes scanned this description, Caleb raised an eyebrow slightly, 'A sandstorm assault team?'
The troop type he had just assigned to Tyranitar was a squad of Rattatas... But it was clear Rattata was not well-suited to Tyranitar's Ability.
Considering this, Caleb turned and went to the Barracks...
After a night's time, the Barracks had just been upgraded to Lv.2 by those Pokémon NPCs, unlocking several new troop types:
«Barracks (LV2)»
Recruitable Troop Types:
LV1:
1. Rattata, a Level 1 unit capable of tearing enemies apart with sharp teeth and claws. An initial unit that can evolve into Raticate (Level 2 unit) after accumulating a certain amount of combat experience.
- Recruitment cost: 1 Food unit...
2. Pidgey, a Level 1 unit, a Tiny Bird Pokémon capable of flying at speeds of 76 kilometers per hour with extremely good eyesight. Even from high altitudes, it can use Gust to deliver precise strikes on enemies. This is an initial unit that can evolve into Pidgeotto (Level 2 unit) and then Pidgeot (Level 3 unit) after accumulating a certain amount of combat experience.
- Recruitment cost: 1 Food unit...
LV2:
1. Gloom, Level 2 unit. A Weed Pokémon capable of using Grass-type and Poison-type moves. Possesses the magical ability to heal allies and poison enemies. If it accumulates sufficient combat experience, it can choose to evolve into Vileplume or Bellossom (Vileplume enhances the troop type's poison abilities, Bellossom enhances the troop type's healing abilities.).
- Recruitment Cost: 10 Food units...
2. Dugtrio, Level 2 unit. A Mole Pokémon. Its body remains hidden underground, allowing it to move swiftly beneath the soil without being detected by the enemy. Excels at attacking foes with Sand Tomb.
- Recruitment Cost: 10 Food units...
3. Tauros, Level 2 unit. A Wild Bull Pokémon adept at charging and ramming. Typically used for breaking through enemy formations. In battle, can use its powerful horns to destroy enemy lines.
- Recruitment Cost: 10 Food units...
…
That was it... After the upgrade to Lv.2, the Barracks only added these three new troop types...
Caleb examined them carefully, then with a wave of his hand, directly recruited five thousand of each, exactly filling the new capacity of fifteen thousand added by the Lv.2 Barracks.
After all, he could generate Food infinitely, so he could afford even the most expensive troop types.
The current troop types were all in a transitional phase. It was highly likely they would be replaced by higher-tier units later on.
Furthermore, even if these low-tier troop types were disbanded, the Infinite World would not refund the resources consumed to recruit them. But if not disbanded, they would occupy the already limited soldier capacity. For ordinary players with limited resources, this was a very painful dilemma.
Dismissing them meant wasting the food spent on recruitment. Not dismissing them meant they clog up the soldier slots…
But Caleb didn't overthink it. His reason for recruiting the units was simply to have them go out and gather Wood and Stone resources for him.
Moreover, he was different from ordinary players, as he possessed the powerful magical title 'Flower Planter'.
With his unlimited Food resources covered, Caleb turned his attention to the limited Wood and Stone resources...
He opened the map panel and looked at the dozen or so gathering teams he had dispatched.
In this game, the number of gathering teams a player could send out was limited, capped at fifteen. Although it was unknown whether more slots would be unlocked later, the current number still felt somewhat insufficient for Caleb.
Even though Food could be generated infinitely... ultimately, Wood and Stone resources were still limited.
The resource points near the Glazed Volcano area were mostly Lv1. Whether it was a Lv1 Farm or a Lv1 Lumberyard, the maximum amount of resources that could be gathered from each was only 300 units.
One patch yields 300 units. Fifteen patches yield 4500 units.
Caleb turned his head to look at the facilities under construction within his territory, like the Medical Tent. As their levels increased, the resources required for their upgrades were also becoming more and more substantial.
4500 units were clearly not enough.
The first thing Caleb thought of was the Resource Conversion Cards sold at the Market. Using those, he could convert Food resources into an equivalent amount of Wood or Stone resources.
But currently, he hadn't found a Gold Mine yet and couldn't acquire Gold Coins... So this path wasn't very feasible.
That left only the second option; for him to personally venture out and explore the fog shrouded map, to search for higher-level wild resource points.
Thinking this, Caleb recalled Dragonite, planning to go out for a walk with it.
As for the territory itself, with Steven and Mewtwo here, he wasn't worried about sudden attacks...
Caleb pondered for a moment, then got up and returned to the Lord's Hall. However, he didn't find Steven inside. Just as he was about to search elsewhere, a world-wide notification suddenly sounded from the sky.
[Beep! A random event has been triggered!]
[Players in the Glazed Volcano area, please note: Glazed Volcano will enter an eruptive state in 10 hours. Please proceed to the volcano to prevent its eruption!]
[Players who successfully prevent the volcanic eruption will receive a reward of 500 Reputation points. If the attempt fails, all players within the Glazed Volcano area will be eliminated from the game!]
At the same time, similar notifications rang out across the world.
Hearing this sound, Caleb's figure froze for a moment. Two words surfaced in his mind:
'Blue Zone. A Blue Zone in another form...'